Taverns, Vodka, and the Right to Drink: Jews and Slavs in the Ukrainian Market Towns of Jewish Life in East Europe
Thursday, March 27th, 2014
| Date | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday, March 27, 2014 | 4:00PM - 6:00PM | Seminar Room 108N, Munk School of Global Affairs 1 Devonshire Place |
Description
In the Slavic imagination, the Jew was a quintessential inn-keeper: cunning, but ready with low prices on high-quality vodka. The Jewish tavern was a multi-purpose shtetl institution, where Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, and Jews did deals, arranged marriages, heard and discussed news, listened to music, played billiards and cards—and smoked, drank, ate, and danced. Since liquor-trade revenues yielded a handsome income, both the Russian administration and Polish nobility did their best to control and tax liquor. Explore how the Jews in the shtetls outwitted the liquor monopolists and why for the shtetl dwellers of different creeds the right to drink turned into a quest for freedom.
Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern will also be presenting his new book “The Golden Age Shtetl: A New History of Jewish Life in East Europe” (available early March, 2014). You will find more information on the book here: http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10186.html
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